History & local legend
A Revolutionary War romance near Valley Forge becomes a story of an inherited death omen in Charles M. Skinner’s 1896 collection of American legends. Ruth Jarrett belongs to a Patriot family, but falls in love with Colonel Howell, a wounded British officer cared for at the Jarrett home. Their marriage depends on his leaving the British army.
When they agree to marry, they hear a drum approaching across the fields. Howell can see no musician. The sound passes through the garden gate, moves beside them and continues through a stone wall. He recognizes it as the phantom drummer that has appeared at turning points in his family’s fortunes for three generations.
Howell cannot obtain his release in time and chooses to desert. During the wedding, just as he places a ring on Ruth’s finger, the drum sounds on the steps. British soldiers arrive and arrest him. Ruth hears it one final time when Howell is executed.
Sources
- Charles M. Skinner, Myths and Legends of Our Own Land, 1896, “The Phantom Drummer”
- S. E. Schlosser, American Folklore, independent modern telling of Ruth and Howell
- National Park Service, historical village of Valley Forge, section 51
- USGS GNIS Valley Forge village reference, carried by OpenStreetMap
- Library of Congress, 1890 panorama showing Valley Forge at the time Skinner’s story was in circulation
